The Federal election was called on 28 March 2025. As this website is hosted by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, the site will only be updated with material in line with the Caretaker Conventions. Please note that the content of this site relates to the Australian Government’s existing policy.

The Bureau of Communications, Arts and Regional Research (BCARR) undertakes research and provides economic and data analysis on communications, arts, cities and regions to support evidence-based policy development and advice.

Select your area of interest below or explore our menu.

Communications

See our research and analysis of the communications and media sectors.

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Arts

View our research and analysis of the arts sector and cultural and creative parts of the economy.

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Regions and Cities

The economic and social characteristics of Australia’s regions and cities vary significantly. Our spatial research and analysis improves our understanding of these differences and enables location appropriate development.

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Data Dashboards

Our data dashboards provide an interactive way of monitoring, measuring, analysing, and generating insights from different datasets.

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Publications

Working from Home research report

BCARR has released its findings on the effects of social, demographic and spatial factors on Work from Home uptake and capability in a new research report. Key findings of this report on ‘The role of socio-demographic and spatial characteristics in Work from Home in Australia’ include:

Working zones update

This fact sheet provides an update to the Working zones geography following the 2021 Australian Statistical Geography Standard. The Working zones statistical geography describes regions that reflect commuting patterns of Australian workers and can be used to analyse local labour markets.

Population trends BCARR Migration Geography

This fact sheet provides an overview of Australian population trends over the five years from 2016 to 2021, using the BCARR migration geography based on six regional categories.

Supplementary analysis—Telecommunications Services and Productivity

In this supplementary analysis, the BCARR uses a growth accounting framework to examine the multifactor productivity performance of telecommunications-intensive activity at an industry level.

Productivity impacts from improved broadband—Report

In this paper, the Bureau of Communications Arts and Regional Research (BCARR) looks at the link between broadband and productivity growth at the individual business level.

Productivity impacts from improved broadband—Visual Summary

This is a visual summary of the key findings from

Understanding regional data: Industry

This fact sheet provides a guide for finding and analysing regional industry data. It also describes methods for constructing key indices of industrial diversity and structural change across regions.

Cultural and Creative Activity Satellite Accounts Methodology Refresh—Consultation paper

The purpose of this consultation paper is to share BCARR's proposed approach to refreshing the cultural and creative activity satellite accounts. It supports a consultation process which invites stakeholders to provide feedback on these proposals.

5G for Australians

5G for Australians (1.96 MB)
This release summarises information on current and future use cases for the fifth generation (5G) of mobile networks. 5G networks are being deployed across Australia and many people are now using 5G mobile devices.

South East Queensland 12 LGAs factsheets

The 12 LGA factsheets are based on the findings of the report. Key findings include: